“Now when they had gone… and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, After they were come… but the Spirit suffered them not… And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, … assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.” — Acts 16:6-10
Paul and Timothy began their journeys with anticipation and open doors, serving God and seeing much fruit. As they continued on, they desired to go but “the Spirit suffered them not” (vs. 6). They tried to go again, but again they were “forbidden” (vs. 7). God does not see fit to tell us whether the closed doors were because of money, lack of peace within themselves, being refused by authority, or something else. We do not know how they were hindered from entering, we just know the Spirit didn’t allow them to go. Finally, they had a vision and a man “prayed him,” saying come over and help us (vs. 9). But I want to draw your attention where God’s Word says they “assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us” to go preach there (vs. 10). It’s as if they were prohibited twice to enter and then very clearly told to go, and at that time they understood this must be where God was calling them. This is contrary to what most Christians believe, or at least practice. We want to have full confirmation and then move, but it appears Paul just moved forward serving God wherever he went, leaving the geographical stopping point up to God. Paul didn’t care where he would serve, he just knew he was going to serve the Lord… and God would take care of the “where.”
May we have the same attitude as Paul of not worrying about “where,” just serving God faithfully and letting Him take care of the geography. If He closes a door, accept that from Him and continue forward. We are called to a Person, not to a place!